New Tampa show

[Soshin]

Hi Pete K.,

 

A very important point and I can't state it better myself.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

[kaigunair]

I think Pete K. nailed it regarding why newbies like myself MUST go t shows. I have no excuse for not going to the August show in the past years, and hope to correct that going forward.

 

I do wonder if there's any way to make it easier for overseas dealers to come to the shows and set up. They already have a higher airfare and travel fees, but having more of the dealers, especially the larger stores in Japan, may be a bigger pull for customers and increase admission fee intake.

 

In a similar vein, at the local militaria shows, the table fees are much much cheaper. This makes it much easier for non-dealers like myself, those of us on the hobby side, to set up a table with our little goodies. We may not have all the "bling" of the dealers, but most of my finds are from tables from fellow hobbyests vs dealer tables for various reasons. I know it would be hard to introduce a "tiered" table fee system, but that could be key to getting a good balance of appealing tables vs customers paying admission (and buying) vs revenue stream for clubs. I wonder how shows might be better advertised to the general public too. I recall that whenever "antiques roadshow" rolls into town, there are lines out the door with people bringing in items. Wouldn't that be great if something similar happened at the various sword shows...

 

From what I hear, the shows are getting smaller each year while fees naturally go up. This doesn't bode well for the future. Maybe it would be better to have a thread with suggestions would be a more constructive use of the forum "brain trust"....

[Curran]

Very different dynamic this year. I brought a few things to sell, but has a difficult time sitting at my table. Too many things to see, and too many people to talk with. Even then, didn't get the chance to talk to several people.

 

We took over an empty table and Mike Y lead an impromtu cram session on Higo. I learned a few things, especially on f/k and some rare menuki. Envy the Hirata f/k belonging to one of the members of the group. I'd seen a previous photo, but wow that was a crappy photo compared to the real thing. Half dozen of us grew to about a dozen of us sort of throwing down a discussion, with specimens ranging from $100 in value on up to not sure ($40,000 or $50,000?). Casual, quick, lots of information.

 

Though it wasn't all on the tables, the level of stuff floating around was some of the highest I've seen in Tampa.

Boris was there. Also gentleman Corain (?) from Japan with the extremely high end stuff. I hadn't expected that caliber of items, and should have brought more money.

 

When I could sit at my table, sold 4 of the 15 items I brought to offer out. A dealer made me a last minute offer of $2000 vs $2250 (marked down from $2550) on three tsuba, but he couldn't meet me half way at $2125 and we swapped cards- which means that is the end of that.

 

Show was much more fun than I anticipated, and had 4 finds shown to me. I agree that at least 3 of them were excellent finds at 1/5th to 1/20th of what they should have been had the dealer known. One of them was right under my nose on a large table of tsuba, and I didn't see it until literally handed to me by someone later. Amused.

 

I did cave in and buy a Kanshiro tsuba from a member I've known for years. (Edit:) He thinks nidai and I think nidai or sandai.

My one major buy of the show.

[cabowen]

The hands on experience is THE ONLY WAY TO ACTUALLY LEARN DISCERNMENT IN THIS FIELD -- and -- you can have a lot of fun socializing as well! For anyone who has the ability to go you really should consider it.

 

Absolutely.

 

If $50-$100 is too much to pay for three days of education, perhaps one needs to seriously consider their level of commitment.

[Mark]

I enjoyed the show. I thought Bill and his staff worked very hard to try and make things go smoothly. I sold a number of items (maybe one was the treasure Barry found - if so good for him), some that were only a few hundred dollars each, so if you are looking for a "genuine" sword that is not too expensive a show is the place to see things hands on and find a bargain, much better than buying on eBay from pictures. I hope the Tampa show continues to thrive, we all need to support the shows help them improve.

[BMarkhasin]

I had a great time at the show, meeting old friend and finding new ones. Bill must be congratulated for all his work -- it is no easy task of setting up such an event; dealing with the hotel, hundreds of dealers, security and no doubt many other factors. Granted, the local traffic was slow, but for some reason Florida was always more of a dealers show than a general public show -- same this year. That said, people were buying, and in some cases for some high dollar values. Mike as usual had some absolutely fabulous pieces of tosogu to share; Andy Quirt had a fabulous Ko Senjuin tachi; Ted Tenold and Bob Benson et al, gave a talk on Oei Bizen Osafune sword development, and there were a number of other events which I admittedly missed being stuck at the table. Overall it was a very good show in my opinion. I am looking forward to attending San Fran (cant make Chicago unfortunately).

 

Best,

Boris.

[b.hennick]

Mark Jones wrote to tell me that I could mention that I bought the sword from him. He had about thirty swords on his table. Several caught my eye and got a second look. The sword I bought got a third look and I bought it. The blade was very reasonable asking was just under $500. I have been collecting over forty years and study swords. Many looked and dismissed the piece. The person who is handling the restoration for me asked where I found it and said that he would have bought it in a flash. He then showed me a similar blade that he bought. The polish was terrible but the blade was very good - a real potential juyo after polish. We will see after restoration.

Bottom line study, handle blades and you too may find a treasure.

Regards,

Barry Hennick

[Mark]

I am happy for Barry. Great that he recognized something special. I am glad the sword will be saved and cared for in the future. Shows that there are still good deals out there. I think going to a show is the best way to see and learn, and hopefully find a great bargain.

 

mark

[Grey Doffin]

I also had a great show. Bill and his crew are to be congratulated for a job well done. This was my best show ever for buying books; truly great references were available.

Grey

[Curran]

Mark and Barry,

 

Well, I didn't know that sword came from Mark. One of the other 'finds' I saw also came from Mark.

Mark- I think I should have taken a longer look at your table.

 

Barry, yes- in addition to yours, I saw that other sword too. Awful chemical polish on it, but once I looked past it- I agree with the restorer. That was a pretty insane deal.

 

As Grey said, there were a large number of good books in excellent to pristine condition. I bought two, and about a dozen people tried to buy a hardback Owari/Yagyu one that I brought for reference to the Owari koshirae I had there. I try to stick to just kodogu/tosogu books, but there were quite a number of sword books that one usually must buy from a Japanese source. I'll be interested to see what Grey lists, as I am sure I missed a few.

 

The storms did keep many people from the west from flying in. One long time attendee that I was suppose to deliver something to did not make it, and the weather also forced many people on Sunday to try to move forward their travel times.

[Pete Klein]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tetsugen ... 6426147884

 

Check out the two short videos of Mike's table at Tampa.

 

BTW: that's me with Jim Gilbert and Cyrus looking asleep ! LOL (we were actually looking at some fittings being passed around the table).

[nihonto1001]

FYI...

Update 3/8/13

 

According to Bill Miller, they are going to do an online only auction in the near future. Many of the same items will be available from the Auction Catalog:http://www.southeastjapaneseswordshowauction.com/auction-catalog.html.

 

If you are interested keep checking the site to keep up to speed.

 

I was at the Sword show and got a chance to see some of the premium items (my favorite of which was/is a Juyo Kaneuji).